Thursday, 1 September 2016

Labour purge Green Twitter indicators but welcome Kippers and Tories,

For a party that not only welcomed Tory defectors Alan Thomas Howarth, (1995) and Shaun Woodward when they crossed the floor to join the Blair "Revolution" but not only parachuted them in to the safe seats of Newport East and St Helens South purging people who have in the past indicated backing from the Greens seems bizarre.

In last Mays Assembly elections the Pontypridd Constituency which is represented by the same Owen Smith on whose behalf it is suspected the current purges mad much us of the candidate who stood against him in the UK election bu who t was now campaigning for Labour.We now have Daran Hill defending the purge of at least one Labour applicant' Writing onClick on Wales he tells us.

Sophie McKeand is clearly distraught at being rejected as a genuine voter in the Labour leadership election. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-37221578Read it for yourself. Experience the throb of an increased heart beat. Feel the natural sympathy swell in your bosom. Sense the indignation flooding your spleen.Then stop and think. Because despite the intrinsic bias in the way this situation has been reported, there are a series of serious points that make the actions of Sophie McKeand wrong.Firstly, and most damningly, she misled on her application. There is a box which clearly asks applicants for registered supporter status to indicate they do not support the aims of other political parties. She lied in her answer to that question. The tweet she made about the Green Party proved that as does the defence she has now presented, drawing on her support for Plaid too.She also indicates she was allowed to vote in last year’s Labour leadership election and that should be some sort of justification for allowing her to vote this time. It isn’t. She lied last year too and it’s only now that Labour is cleaning up some of the mess that its registered supporter system has created. (I could write several essays on the short comings of that system, but that’s for another day.)At the heart of the issue is the following statement made by McKeand: “If I want to vote Plaid one year I will, if I want to vote for Jeremy Corbyn I can. I want to reflect my socialist agenda. I want to see proper socialism so I’ll vote for a variety of parties – but always on the left. These things shouldn’t be mutually exclusive.”

Maybe its really the Left that Mr Hill objects to. A Wasting Mule profile in 2011 contained an illuminating titbit.

He comes from a working class background, growing up in Port Talbot, in a “very Labour-orientated” family. He developed an interest in politics from an early age, and was very involved in student politics at university.He joined the Labour Party, and “was very enthused” by the direction Neil Kinnock moved the Labour Party in the early 90s – even more so by the direction Tony Blair took it in the mid-90s.“But I also became less tribal and saw tremendous value in co-operation with politicians from other left of centre parties,” he said.When the devolution referendum came around in 1997 he was offered the post of national organiser for the Yes campaign. It was the most senior staff post in that campaign, and he was offered the job by Leighton Andrews and Peter Hain.After the campaign he went into public affairs, setting up Positif Politics in 2006.

The truth is that these purges are been carried out on people who indicated that they were likely to support Jeremy Corbyn Hill claims that Sophie McKeand misled on her application

There is a box which clearly asks applicants for registered supporter status to indicate they do not support the aims of other political parties.

But how far does that go you can support Green aims that coincide with Labour Policy as expressed by Corbyn.Or perhaps back the Tory Austerity plans renewal of Trident and part privatisation of the NHS as Own Smith is on record of supporting.Hills assertion that

At the heart of the issue is the following statement made by McKeand: “If I want to vote Plaid one year I will, if I want to vote for Jeremy Corbyn I can. I want to reflect my socialist agenda. I want to see proper socialism so I’ll vote for a variety of parties – but always on the left. These things shouldn’t be mutually exclusive.”

would have some merit if this was the reason Ms Mcknead was purged , but that is only a latter statement .

Anyway as the case of the three defectors who were admitted and lauded by Labour shows its OK to admit people who have not only backed some viewpoint on Twitter but actually stood against Labour candidates if it suits them.

Darran Hill hatchet job on Ms Mckead dies not address the real issue that these purges are selective in favour of the hierarchy preferred candidate who is likely to lose.